Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-02-21
A DRASTIC MEASURE.

The new anti-polygamy bill, and which
has passed both houses of Congress, is one
of the most emphatic and sweeping Acts :"
that has ever been proposed for place
among the Federal statutes Utah is a
Territory and therefore within the unre-
strained legislative power of Congress,
which after many years of temporizing,
has at last reached point where mercy
has been abandoned and rigor made the
rule. The new bill, which, it is believed,
is sure to receive Executive approval, dis
closes only the objection that its stringency
may bring on some sort of reaction and
awaken some sympathy for the Mormons
But it will be found self-defenSive if its
provisions, one after another, are taken up
and viewed in the light Of the tyranny of
the Mormon Church and its past bloody
record; the intolerance of that body and
the cruel rule of its priesthood; the I'M
scrupulous manner in which, through the
agency of church corporations, it has alb
sorbed public wealth and sequestered to
itself public lands; the degradation polyg-
amy has brought upon women in Utah; ;
the cow under which the Mormon mag
mates have held the local Courts the tool
the Church has made of the Territorial
Legislature; the prostitution, by the Nor
MON system, of the public schools to the
ends and purposes of polygamy; the ALSO
lutte slavery of conscience in which the
priesthood has held the laity; the reck-
lessness of church proselytizing abroad,
and the deceit under which immigration
has been fostered; the secrecy with which
the Church has surrounded its marriage
ceremonial. All these and other matters,
and the history related to them, fortify
the action Congress has taken. For it has
come to this, that the nation is defied, her
laws set at naught,. and her authority
spurned by a power claiming, under the
Constitution, the right to maintain a sys-
tenn abhorrent to the American sentiment.
The agreed bill provides for the proper
eerdtcation of all marriages in the Terri
tory, and makes either the husband or
wife a competent witness in cases of bigamy,
polygamy, or adultery, where the other is
concerned as defendant. The Territorial
laws permitting illegitimate children to
inherit the property of their parents is
set aside, for it is now but an aid to poly
gamy. The Probate Courts which have
for thirty years been merely convenient
tools of the church, are to be, except for
very limited purposes, abolished, and to
the Territorial Courts is to be transferred
the Jurisdiction that has been exclusively
that OF the former The Territorial
Courts being Federal will be free from
church control Property that has been
covered by the cloak of the church corpo-
rations is to be declared escheat to the
United States, for the benefit of the COM
mon schools of the Territory, and that
these schools may be no longer priest
driven, the Supreme Court of the Terri
tory-which is composed Of the District
Territorial Judges-is to name the Com
missioner Of Schools, while the old Office
OF Territorial Superintendent of Schools
is to be abandoned There will be thus
some opportunity offered to prevent the
schools being used as means to implant in
the yeuthful mind respect for the in
decency, polygamy All the church cor
porations, immigration and business, are
TO be dissolved, and these institutions, if
they exist hereafter. are to be brought
under the operation of general statutes, as
Is the rule in all the States of the Union.
Improperly ofthe immigration Fund Com
pany-a mere polygamy recruiting ma
chine-is to be escheated for the benefit of
the schools. Widows are to be entitled to
q third of the income and estates of their
late husbands; woman suffrage is forbidden
TO be any more practiced in Utah, not be-
cause in principle it is wrong or i'm
practicable, but because in Utah the church
uses it TO forge the chains of its subjects,
and more firmly secure women in bondage.
The special charter-practically license
to do what it will-of the Church of Jesus
Christ of EATER Day Saints is to be re-
voked, and the Attorney General of the
United States will be required to wind up
Its affairs in legal proceedings to be insti-
tuted. This is an especially praiseworthy
provision, and will drive the Church to
avail of such general incorporation laws as
are open to other religious denominations.
1t may be the means of bringing to light
some of the hidden inlamies of the Nor
mon Church, and at least must disclose to
the public view the enormous wealth it has
amassed, and the vast landed possessions it
has grasped, over which it has placed
stewards, removable at the dictation of the
chief priests. 1t Is provided that all re-
ligious bodies may procure from the Courts
the license to hold realty sufficient for
houses of worship, parsonages, and proba-
bly, for religious schools; that no one shall
exercise the right of voter except he
takes oath 10 support the Constitution and
the laws, and especially the Anti-polygamy
Act of March, 1882, and the Act now TN
der consideration. If the Mormons claim